The third quarter of the year into #theRuleofFive

September 29, 2024

In short: I didn’t buy anything and everything is fine.

On why

There’s a meteoropathic element in me, the psychological side, not the physical weather pain.

Growing up in a brimming town on the Italian Riviera made me a summer type of girl: summers of my youth were my most glorious times. Living in humid, tropical, scorching Miami has made me face the summer months as if I were in apnea, in the eternal longing for the best season which, in the Southern Riviera, starts middle of October (when Joe’s Stone Crabs opens and the Antique Market in Lincoln Rd. begins) and officially in November when hurricane season is over.

Could it also be that when we are young we are in the spring and summer seasons of our lives and when we turn 50 we are in the fall? I don’t mean to taint it grim, I love the fall and the foliage that doesn’t really happen in Miami, but I can watch When Harry met Sally and Gilmore Girls and voilà.

What did I wear?

My closet, pretty much. I am as simple as pane e mortadella.

Some pieces were upcycled, swapped, sent to Thredup to then buying the same ones but new (that’s why I can say I haven’t bought anything).

What’s next

My favorite season of all and the wardrobes have been already switched, summer in the suitcase, winter out.

Month 6 into #theRuleofFive: upcycle demi couture

July 7, 2024

UPCYCLE DEMI-COUTURE

This 6th month has been exhilarating, I am not happy, but re-super happy.

After a 5-month purge of clothes and shoes from the winter and summer wardrobes, there were some a few skirts and dresses that still meant too much to me to let go, but I hadn’t worn in years.

I brainstormed with Alejandro Barzaga, an utterly talented, highly trained designer who has graciously entertained my thoughts and brought them to life.

I am not a designer nor have ever been trained to be one, my mind is the one of a story-teller and when I see a look that can take a shape that would suit me, I am lucky enough to go to who can do it for me.

HOW MANY

OUT: I don’t know how many pieces I sold or sent to Thredup and TheRealReal, how many I gifted to friends who are now enjoying them, how many I can now wear from my life before my menopausal limbs and belly.

IN: no brand new, virgin clothes, but 1 second hand Marni x UNIQLO skirt. Also, I am very proud that I found a new fragrance, first in over 30 years, but that is a different story.

FIT EMPOWERMENT

At the risk of repeating myself, now that I am halfway through the year of only buying 5 new things, June has cemented the concept of body acceptance with a phenomenon I call fit empowerment.

It starts from within, it only took me 55 years to catch the drift, but here you have it.

Your body changes naturally, it evolves mostly due to hormones, gravity, metabolism, weather, overworking and your brain (at least mine) never registers until things are either underway or you are at a no-return point.

In what seems like a jiffy, shit hits the fan and nothing fits anymore, you start wearing MooMoos-adjacent amorphous crap, stop looking at yourself in the mirror, walk past a window so fast that your eye cannot catch a glimpse, and keep buying stuff with no strategy other than becoming invisible and hating being photographed because who you see is not you.

You end up having another closet full of nothing to wear.

Here’s when the empowering path began, in June. Back in January, I accepted the only 5 things a year challenge because why not, I had done 3 and 6 months with no new clothes before, but also for convenience, for my closet’s sake and to save time in the morning, I had too much I wasn’t wearing. One item at a time, I altered, mended, fixed, modified, dyed, and here I am with upcycle demi couture.

And I suggest it to anyone.

Months 4 and 5 into the #ruleoffive: repair and reparations

May 27, 2024

It’s been a rather convulse period with course finals and all, I barely managed to keep a semblance of sanity, not without coming down with a cold and an unspecified eye allergy.

Full in exploration of one of my truest TROUSSEAU ERAS in which, as Rachel Tashjian Wise describes in her most coveted newsletter Opulent Tips

unsuitable belongings from earlier times are expunged and new, more apropos garments are acquired with precision and grace.

I have been expunging, a lot, with spurs of determination mitigated by bouts of grace.

Rummaging through your closet in search of the unworn is a cathartic ritual that reconnects you with your body and your style.

How is it going

An introspective journey that started with one self-imposed rule and led me to realize I was focusing on the wrong side of the closet. All I was committed to was finding what to buy that is not there yet, strategizing on how to be smart and pace myself to only buy 5 things.

With the purpose of reducing my carbon footprint, my tunnel vision was busy buying, when as close as in my book there’s a whole chapter dedicated to “But first, shop in your closet”.

When I shifted lane, boom, the fireworks, ed è subito sera .

I may have already bought those 5 items half way through the year, but I don’t think I have never been happier or more satisfied with my wardrobe.

I know where things are, I have monetized on pieces that were idling (I have so many heels from the life when I used to stand on them for 8 hours a day) and still deserving of a new life, I became acquainted with my new body, embraced how much it changed, I have consciously uncoupled with so much stuff, stuff that had no reason of lingering in my closet, transformed, altered, upcycled, reshaped a bunch of garments that had monetary and sentimental value, yet I wasn’t wearing.

in numbers

Mended and altered:

1 blazer
1 sleeveless car coat
1 vintage MARNI dress
3 pairs of jeans
1 pair of cotton trousers
1 pair of coulottes
1 long silk caftan-like dress bought on Poshmark 2 years ago and never worn because it was from my moomoo period, until the pictures below showed up on my Pinterest.

In the process of being upcycled

with the imprimatur of designer and former student Alejandro Barzaga: 2 skirts and 1 dress
with the genius free hand of Pangea Kali Virga, a multifaceted conceptual artist, fashion designer and dear friend: 1 dress with a whole bunch of T shirts

Now, something I want to emphasize: to have the opportunity to witness the calm and graceful process of the craft with two talented designers, is a privilege.

I regard their time and skills as highly as I would a painter painting my portrait. I enjoy all steps of the process from the preliminary exchange of ideas to the final reveal, and the apparent idle time in between that serves to let the confetti settle down and for their sensibility to go vroom vroom.

This is how you hone your personal style and support talent.

Donated to the local all-women shelter:

1 mini handbag
1 pair of cords
2 tops

Mailed to Thredup: 1 jean jacket, 1 overall, 1 pair of clogs, 2 pairs of cords, 2 blouses, 2 summer dresses

Sold on The Real Real: 1 raincoat, 3 sandals.

Bought:

on Etsy the summer basket, the staple of my glorious summers in Tuscany
on Poshmark, the classic Sperry Top Siders brown boat shoes because Miuccia made me do it
at a stylist’s closet sale: blue Clark’s Wallabees (this was a totally unexpected find that couldn’t be

LESSONS LEARNED

Am I surprised at how much stuff I got rid of?

Yes.

Because of the amount of money I spent in second-hand clothes that I never wore and/or didn’t need.

Because the new purchases I have made are items that belong to a précis I have formulated as a result of the higher plan I have committed to.

Because more are the things that have found a new home than the ones I welcomed.

Because I bought only as a result of a whole lot of reasoning, intention, speculation, consideration, rumination.

Because the concept of wardrobe essentials is BS.